College Football Playoff Rankings: What The Rankings Will Look Like

The College Football Playoff Committee is set to release their initial rankings today at 7 PM ET. While many fans will be interested to see where their team lands in the rankings, only 6 or 7 really matter. Those are the teams that feel like they have a legitimate claim to being in the top 4 of the polls, which are the only rankings that matter.

The committee showed in 2014 that they were not afraid to buck against the common trends and would rank who they felt deserved to be there. AP Polls and Coach’s Polls be damned, the committee operated under their own rules. Three SEC teams were ranked in the first ever College Football Playoff Rankings (#1 Mississippi State, #3 Auburn, #4 Mississippi). They were willing to have teams leapfrog each other without hesitation. Big 12 fans may not have liked it, but the committee ranked teams on their in-season accomplishments. When teams won big games, they were rewarded with a jump in the rankings. It is with that mindset that we’ll try to predict what the top 4 will look like when the rankings come out this evening. These projections are based solely on 2015 accomplishments.

Just missed:

TCU- 0 quality wins and a scare against Texas Tech. A win against undefeated Oklahoma State Saturday could see them jump into the top 4.

Baylor: 0 quality wins. They’ll have to wait until November 14 when they play Oklahoma to potentially say that. That game is followed by Oklahoma State and TCU, giving Baylor several chances to impress the committee near the end of the season.

4. Michigan State

While the Spartans have not even come close to dominating their schedule, they remain undefeated. They have 2 quality wins, having beaten Oregon and Michigan. While Oregon has fallen out of the rankings and it took a fluky miracle to beat Michigan, Michigan’s State’s resume stacks up nicely against most other teams. The committee showed last year that they did not mind punishing a team due to a lack of quality performances against inferior competition (see Florida State). They also showed they valued a team being undefeated and having quality wins. Michigan State sneaks in but several teams are lurking.

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3. Clemson

Clemson already has impressive wins against Notre Dame and Georgia Tech. They are responsbile for the sole loss on for Notre Dame on the season and Georgia Tech suffered a hearbreak that needs no mention to make their win of slightly less quality. If they can beat Florida State Saturday, they’ll be safe from any team leapfrogging them in the near future. Their only other chance to add a quality win will be in the ACC Championship.

2. Ohio State

Last year the College Football Playoff Committee steadily dropped the Florida State Seminoles down the rankings due to their inability to dominate competition. It d hio State’s 2015 season has been eerily similar, minus the Heisman winner. They have looked sloppy all season and do not have resume-building games until the last two weeks of the season. If they can beat both Michigan schools and the Big Ten Championship, however, they could very well work their way back to number one.

1. LSU

Call me bias if you must, but no other team’s resume compares to that of the LSU Tigers. The Tigers have two quality wins over ranked teams: @ Mississippi State and against eventual SEC East Champion Florida. They also have the most likely Heisman winner in their backfield with Leonard Fournette. O yeah, they also have plenty of more games to try to impress the committee. The Tigers travel to Alabama, host Arkansas, travel to Mississippi and finally end the regular season against Texas A&M. If the Tigers can survive that stretch, there is no way they don’t end the season ranked #1.

Next: Best and Worst SEC Football Performances in Week 9

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